This week I’ve got another interesting bunch of articles for you to peruse: Defensive Daddy talks about keeping your kids safe around your guns; a real-world use of the flashlight as a safety tool; dealing with predators that don’t walk upright; an old scam brought back to life by modern technology; guns aren’t just for men any more; Rob Pincus on how flowers really do keep us safe, when they’re backed up by proper use of force; and Jerry Miculek ...

Review: Defensive Mindset DVD

Over the years there has been much written and said on the topic of the defensive mindset. Many defensive shooting courses start with and claim to develop such a mindset, but usually amount to little more than trite sayings and broad exhortations.

Call me jaded if you will, but to be honest that’s what I was expecting when this DVD arrived in my mailbox. It was a pleasant surprise to find something very different than what I anticipated!

Hope you and your family had a safe and peaceful Thanksgiving! I know, we all ate too much and are now forced to do exercise penance, but I’d do it all over again — and probably will next year! The holiday didn’t keep me from collecting some great articles, however, and for your reading enjoyment this week Claude Werner talks about changing his mind; the SIG Academy has a different way to talk about the relationship of sight alignment and ...

In the last couple of years I’ve become a big proponent of the high intensity compact flashlight as a personal security and defense tool. I use those words specifically because the flashlight is the perfect example of a multi-use device: it serves as an early warning system, by allowing you to detect dangers before you get to them — or they get to you; it sets up a psychological barrier against a human threat, by showing that you’re in control ...

This DVD is a bit of a departure from most of the Personal Defense Network productions that I’ve viewed. It’s entirely lecture-based, presented by Rob Pincus in a studio setting, and it’s also one of the most information-dense of the productions I’ve seen!

Comprehensive Guide To Self Defense is Pincus’ “50,000-foot view” of self defense, covering a wide range of topics all of which relate to personal defense in ...

This is really a “Hump Day” for me — it’s been a hectic week! Not so hectic that I didn’t collect a few things for your reading enjoyment, however: Ian McCollum has a video about one of the very rarest Colt/Browning pistols, the Model 1909; Greg Ellifritz takes a different view of an active killer response; some myths about women and concealed carry; a high-tech way you might be helping people to break into your own home; some frank talk ...

Cecil Burch has made a name for himself over the past several years for his sometimes unique approaches to defensive tactics: those things that you do when you’re engaged in a response to an attack. He’s trained with the best instructors in several types of martial arts and in the shooting world, and that wide background makes him a popular instructor with police, military special operations, and private ...

Sometimes I think people have a distorted view of personal security — particularly in the media!

Now I know that’s hard to believe; after all, if you can’t trust the media, who can you trust? (In case anyone doesn’t get the sarcasm in that sentence, well — it’s sarcasm!) They’ve been reporting lately on a number of new smartphone apps to help keep people safer, going so far as to label them as self-defense devices.

A story out of a middle school in Alabama has made the rounds recently. The principal of that school suggested that parents send their kids to school with canned food, which they could hurl at an attacker in self defense.

Predictably, the gun community (particularly certain segments of it) responded with scorn and derision: “Idiotic”. “Stupid.” “Naive.” And, of course, the perennial favorite in the bumper-sticker philosophy department: “the only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun is ...

All over the country, police budgets are being slashed. For some counties here in Oregon, tax revenues have declined so sharply that police patrols are no longer 24 hours per day. What would this mean if it happened in your town?

A recent story out of Dallas, OR — a small town west of Salem, our state capital — illustrates the issues facing many people who live in non-incorporated parts of the country: there ...

The world, many people say, is getting more dangerous. You can make it a little less so by knowing what to do if a terror attack happens to you!

From all over the world we read of mass-casualty terror attacks. Shootings in Paris; bombings in other parts of the world; shopping malls and train stations attacked; and even here at home we’ve had more than a few people lose their lives to ...

A recent article about the failures of pepper spray got me to thinking: why don’t people understand what it’s really for?

Gun people (that is, people who own and/or carry firearms for personal defense) sometimes get a little myopic. Oddly enough, people who don’t like guns get a little myopic too. When it comes to oleoresin capsicum (“OC”, commonly called pepper spray) both sides have a poor understanding of its place in ...

Defensive DVD Review: Legal Considerations Of The Use Of Non-Lethal Defensive ForcePresented by Marty Hayes, Kerry Tanner, and Rob PincusPublished by the Personal Defense Network as part of the Personal Firearms Defense DVD series

This is an interesting DVD in the Personal Defense Network’s series, interesting in the sense that it doesn’t deal with the use of lethal force. It does, however, address the idea of using the threat of ...

I know, I’m not big on the whole New Year’s Resolution thing either, but I’ve found that it’s easier to make lifestyle changes stick when there is more than one benefit to the resolution!

Lots of folks start off the New Year with a resolution to get into better shape. For most folks it’s about looking better or fitting into a specific piece of clothing; for others, its an understanding that excess weight can be a health issue unto itself.

I’ll admit it — I’m not a knife guy. Don’t get me wrong; I carry one (actually two) almost everywhere I go and use them as tools on a daily basis. I actually wear knives out from use! I’m not an expert in using ...

Sadly, it happens with some frequency: a family member is shot after being mistaken for an intruder. Can it happen to you or someone you love?

When I was young our family never locked the house doors; in fact, I’m not sure my parents even had a key! We lived outside of a very small town, one in which nothing every really happened, and one in which people left their cars parked with ...

The internet is buzzing about a recent NBC news segment where a security “expert” recommended the use of wasp/yellowjacket/hornet spray as a good replacement for pepper spray (aka oleoresin capsicum or ‘OC’ for short), or even a firearm.

This strikes me as odd advice, as I’ve been sprayed with OC and once accidentally got a face of some wasp killer, and I’m ...

Amtrak recently produced a safety video that garnered some negative attention in the shooting community. How valid are the criticisms?

This article about Amtrak’s new safety campaign has been getting a lot of attention, most of it condescending or ridiculing (as the author of the piece shows.) I think everyone is missing the bigger picture, because I think the video is actually pretty good — for what it is.

I’ve written about the utility of the high-power flashlight as a defensive tool. How do you choose from the myriad of makes and models?

I’ve been getting a lot of emails lately about flashlights, mostly asking about specific brand names and if I’ve had any experience with them. It seems that nearly every day a new “tactical” light manufacturer comes along, and there are getting to be a veritable ton of new flashlight choices. How, I’m being asked, can one make ...

Given the choice, when face-to-face with an armed attacker I’d rather have my gun in my hand. Should I give up because I can’t?

One of the common memes in the gun control movement is that we must ban guns because the average person is completely defenseless against them. Oddly enough, there are a lot of people in the defensive shooting world who seem to have bought into that line of thinking ...

As I’ve said countless times, both in print and in classes, your personal safety isn’t just about buying a gun. Here’s some discussion on how to look at security in a more holistic manner.

I’m a “gun guy”. I don’t think I really started out to be one, but over the years it’s worked out that way. Why not? Guns are fun, they have intricate mechanisms and endless opportunities for accessorizing (which we all refer to as ‘customization’, lest we be ...

The recent attacks at Fort Hood and on the Jewish community in Kansas remind us that irrational attacks happen. How can you respond if you find yourself in one of these situations?

Attacks on large targets, meaning areas where many people congregate, are meant (or hoped) to result in mass casualties. The attacker(s) most often choose soft targets — places which are weapons-free zones by either edict or custom. Schools, for instance, make tempting targets because not only are they often ...

Is there something you can carry which can actually help keep you safe, to help identify and prevent trouble before it happens? The flashlight can, which is why I believe everyone who is interested in personal safety and preparedness should carry one.

While I spend a lot of time talking about firearms and shooting, I’ve also said (many times) that self defense isn’t all about the gun. The firearm is a specialized tool, ...

The link-up or meeting plan is a staple of disaster preparedness. Did you know it’s a great tool for defensive situations, like a mass attack in a mall, as well?

There’s been an incident, and you’ve survived. How are you going to determine whether the rest of your family did, and how are you going to get everyone out of what may still be a danger zone? The link-up plan, that’s ...

Whether we’re talking self defense or the larger concept of self preservation, there is one thing that stands above all others in its importance. You can’t buy it, though there are people who will try to sell it to you!

I came to the self defense arena through the firearms world. That wasn’t intentional, it just worked out that way! People in the shooting community, some of them very sincere and accomplished, ...

I’ve said many times that self defense and personal security aren’t always about the gun. The concealed carry firearm is an efficient (and important) part of an overall self defense plan, but it is applicable to a very small number of situations. Far more numerous are those everyday interactions which seem innocuous, but hold the potential for violent escalation.

I’ve asked many students (and prospective students) why they carry or want to carry (CCW) a concealed handgun, and the most common answer I hear is that they do so to “be safer”. While I understand the sentiment, ...